15 June

Merely eying the roster of this LP is enough to raise Marginal pulses. Featuring freakout legend Keiji Haino, noise deity Masami Akita (Merzbow), and the much lauded Hungarian percussionist Balázs Pándi, this record sees the trio explore two long pieces divided into individual movements and does not disappoint. “Why Is the Courtesy of the Prey Always Confused with the Courtesy of the Hunters (Part I)” has no wave guitar crashing into free jazz drumming, both of which descend into cathartic madness before a neo-heavy metal ending. In “Part II” Merzbow lays down gravitas textures while Haino and Pándi extemporize some David Lynch meets Hella uptown, bad dream vibes. As the track progresses, Akita becomes more involved and the tune goes into Hendrix at Woodstock, Star Spangled Banner screeching parallel universe peyote meltdown. At times Merzbow feels a bit superfluous and one wonders how a Haino and Pándi duo might come across; other times, he feels indispensable. On “How Differ the Instructions of the Left from the Instructions of the Right? (Part III),” Haino’s vocals on top of Merzbow’s sonic tumult is a thing of sheer brilliance. I was always a fan of Last Exit, but Iron Path‘s production always reeked of the decade of it’s recording. This may very well be the replacement that jumps into the spazz-jazz rotation.